You are here

Wiggly Ring

Featured on April 26, 2012

Saturn's outermost ring, the F Ring, shows wiggles, spikes, curls, and other structures in these two images from the Cassini spacecraft, which were snapped about two months apart. Saturn itself has been blocked out. Most of the structures (which have been exaggerated) are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon Prometheus. Others, such as the spoke at top left in the left image, are caused by odd objects that may be tiny moons or clumps of ring material. Cassini has spotted many of these objects in the F Ring, which spans about 175,000 miles (280,000 km). [NASA/JPL/SSI]

Keywords

Search form

Today on StarDate

Subscribe

+Get the ultimate StarDate fan experience with our premium digital package — a one-year subscription to the digital edition of StarDate magazine and a one-year subscription to our same-day audio service. Get both together for just $45, a savings of 20% over purchasing both separately.